Oh, Enn! This was beautiful! I loved Íri, his exuberance and innocence but his adoration of the stars and curiosity made him perfect! Min was so stoic and marvelous in his determination to love from afar.

I've never read anything about this time period, but you made it fascinating and piqued my curiosity.

A lovely story. I really know nothing of Numenor--I've read no Tolkien but The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings--so there was much that was strange and even slightly confusing, but the love between the characters was clear.

Author's Response:

I know what you mean - I really hadn't done much studying on Numenor myself, but half the fun was learning a wholly different time and place in Tolkien's work. So much depth there and so much still to explore! Thanks for your kind comment.

Oh wow, very nice. Your fic was excellent reading and flowed perfectly. I really liked the romance of it very much and the tale told of these two men and their future plans. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm hooked, and I would love to read some more fics by you on the heir and his lodestar. Beautiful. Thank you. :)

Author's Response:

Thank you so much. I'm glad you read and enjoyed this most obscure of Tolkien's ledgerdomain and my little based on it. I don't know if I'll write them again, but I am at least thinking of an "outtake" wherein they discuss something that I forgot to put into the original piece.

This really is a great story. It hooks the reader and drags them in even if they know nothing of the history. As others have said, the characters are so real that I couldn't help but wish the best for them. And I loved Iri's fascination with the stars and their talk of the constellations. Just wonderful from beginning to end.

Author's Response:

Thank you so much, Mike. It's a strange time period and place for most of our peeps, so I'm glad that you even read it, much less added your kind words. And I've been trying like hell to improve my characterization, so your recognition of that is especially welcome. Thank you!

Lovely story. The main characters were fascinating so attractive and engaging. The romance was delicious and believable. I am terrible on the history of Numenor. You really engaged me to the point that I was forced to do some reading after I finished your story.

So, I look up the kings of Numenor and lo and behold his real name is 'Írimon', which means 'Desirous' in Quenya! What was Tolkien thinking! (I can't believe it! Anyway, your character fit the name--to a T.
Awesome. You should be proud of it.

Author's Response:

Thanks, Oshun. Believe me, I knew almost nil about Numenor before I got this assignment. And as I told Thevina, that was almost half the fun. I love the research part of any endeavor and I had a lot to learn...and fast. Thanks for reading it and I'm glad to hear it got you engaged enough to look it up for yourself.

My dear, dear author-- I am speechless, and teary, which for me, is rare. So many things I want to write in my review! I may need to leave you several. Firstly, though, I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the research of the star-watcher king; he's fascinated me since reading the tale of Aldarion and Erendis and wish that there were more stories about him, especially if they were all as well-written as yours. Secondly, you and I share Elfscribe as a friend, apparently, as she beta'ed my story! What a privilege.And now. I am so very fortunate and feel that I've been given the most marvelous gift today, in reading your story. You brought the building of the tower to life, an aspect of Tar-Meneldur's life I hadn't even really thought about, and with such vivid detail and characters. Minardil I could see with my inner eye, and their correspondence when separated was such a delicious interlude. This undid me: "The stars do not like it when you are gone. Their luster wanes."::takes ragged breath::From the beginning through to the end, your pacing was sublime, the development of the relationship between the two men so bittersweet at first and, thusly, entirely believable. With this you have fleshed out Irimion's personality from canon in a way that will remain forever with me-- now I want to write another Numenor story, or return to the one I started several years ago.And their intimacies, once Iri and Min were at long last allowed to join, was beautiful on myriad levels. It was erotic, and your wordcraft evocative without being at all saccharine. This, my dear, is a spellbinding story; I felt that I'd been removed to Numenor and a part of their lives for the time I sat to savor this story. I will be reading it multiple times, and will most certainly guide as many readers as I can over to share in this superb written offering.Thank you, thank you. I'm now going to need to find more of your stories!!

Author's Response:

Oh my, thank you so very much for your wonderful words. Believe me, when I saw that I had written this for "Thevina" I shook all over with trepidation. Elfscribe speaks so very highly of you and was extremely coy about the whole thing, telling me that she 99% sure who my requestor was. As part of my research, in addition to canon, I went to all kinds of sites and actually used your bio of the Star-Watcher from HASA as one of my bases. Imagine when I saw your name appended here - Oy! I am thrilled to death that you thought I did his early life justice and that you enjoyed it. And oh, but didn't I have fun. I'm not the writer that Elfscribe or Kenaz or several others I could name is/are - but oh, I do love, love, love the research involved in any endeavor And it was absolutely wonderful to immerse myself in a place and time that I've never really read or considered. I'm humbled by your words and and thank you for them, most kindly. I rather fell in love with your Star-Watcher King and his Minardil during the writing myself!

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien or New Line Cinema. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.